News

South, East brace for polar temps, wind chills

By RICK CALLAHAN Associated Press

Posted:
01/06/2014 01:13:52 AM CST

Click photo to enlarge

In this Sunday, Jan. 5, 2014 photo, Ron, a bison at Brookfield Zoo, is covered in snow and doesn't seemed phased by the frigid temperatures or snow blowing through the Chicago area. The zoo was closed Monday, Jan . 6 due to the snowstorm and sub-zero temperatures and plans to reopen Tuesday. It was only the fourth time in Brookfield Zoo's history dating back to 1934 that it has closed due to severe weather conditions.

INDIANAPOLIS—Frigid air that snapped decades-old records will make venturing outside dangerous for a second straight day, this time spreading to southern and eastern parts of the U.S. and keeping many schools and businesses shuttered. Meanwhile, residents driven from their homes by power outages in the Midwest worried about burst pipes.

Monday's subzero temperatures broke records in Chicago, which set a record for the date at minus 16, and Fort Wayne, Ind., where the mercury fell to 13 below. Records also fell in Oklahoma and Texas, and wind chills across the region were 40 below and colder. Officials in states like Indiana already struggling with high winds and more than a foot of snow urged residents to stay home if they could.

Cattle feed in a pasture near Lecompton, Kan., Monday, Jan. 6, 2014. Cattle with their thick hides and heavy coats can usually weather the cold temperatures well as long as there is not much snow to get them wet. Luckily, it is too early for most ranchers to calve yet in Kansas. But the brutally cold temperatures make it hard for the ranchers who must make sure they have plenty of unfrozen water, feed and bedding. ((AP Photo/Orlin Wagner))

"The cold is the real killer here," Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard said Monday as he asked schools and businesses to remain closed another day. "In 10 minutes you could be dead without the proper clothes."

The polar air will next invade the East and South on Tuesday, bringing with it the prospect of more records falling. Highs in the single digits were expected in Georgia and Alabama, and wind chill warnings stretched as far south as Florida, with forecasts calling for minus 10 in Atlanta and minus 12 in Baltimore.

In downtown Louisville, Ky., where wind chills dropped to 22 below zero Monday, John Tyler gathered with friends at a McDonald's. The self-described homeless man spent Sunday night sleeping on the street.

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Dressed in a sweatshirt, two coats and a black woolen cap, Tyler said there's no way to adequately prepare for this kind of cold.

"How we're dealing with it? You can't deal with it," Tyler said. "There's no way you can deal with it."

Forecasters said some 187 million people in all could feel the effects of the "polar vortex" by the time it spreads across the country. Tennessee utility officials braced for near-record power demand, while Ohio prepared for its coldest temperatures in decades.

In this image taken with a fisheye lens, a GMC Sierra is shown covered in snow at Ray Laethem Buick-GMC in Detroit, Monday, Jan. 6, 2014. Michigan residents are preparing for diving temperatures as they dig out from more than 15 inches of snow in places. ((AP Photo/Paul Sancya) )

PJM Interconnection, who operates the power grid supplying energy to more than 61 million people in parts of the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and South, has asked users to conserve electricity Tuesday because of the cold, especially in the morning and late afternoon.

Recovery will be the focus in several Midwestern states Tuesday, since the subzero cold followed inches of snow and high winds that made traveling treacherous—especially on interstates in Indiana and Illinois—and was being blamed for numerous deaths in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.

More than 30,000 customers in Indiana were without power late Monday night.

Graphic shows the cold temperatures across the U.S. and a thermometer indicator to explain how cold the weather will be.; 3c x 4 1/2 inches; 146 mm x 114 mm; (Graphic shows the cold temperatures across the U.S. and a thermometer indicator to explain how cold the weather will be.; 3c x 4 1/2 inches; 146 mm x 114 mm; )

Utility crews worked to restore electricity as temperatures plunged into the negative teens, but officials cautioned some people could be in the cold and dark for days.

"My kids are ready to go home, and I'm ready too," said 41-year-old Timolyn Johnson-Fitzgerald, of Indianapolis, who faced a second night sleeping on cots at a Red Cross shelter with her three children, ages 11, 15, and 18.

Bob Oravec, a meteorologist at the Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Md., said the blast of frigid air raised concerns that roads wet from melted snow would freeze over.

"In Maryland, we lost a lot of the snowpack and a lot of water is draining off, and the temperatures are dropping fast," Oravec said.

But there are signs things are returning to normal.

JetBlue Airways, which stopped all scheduled flights to and from New York and Boston on Monday, planned to resume some flights Tuesday morning. Southwest Airlines operations in Chicago resumed Monday night, even if it was, as a spokesman for the Texas-based airline called it, "a trickle."

The Minnesota Zoo announced it would reopen to the public Tuesday. State lawmakers in Indiana planned to kick off their 2014 legislative session after a day's postponement.

And warmer temperatures—at least, near or above freezing—are in store for the Midwest. Indianapolis should reach 27 degrees on Wednesday, and other parts of the central U.S. could climb above freezing later in the week.

Even International Falls, Minn., had something to look forward to. Wind chills dropped as low as -55 Monday, but were expected to rebound to 25 below Tuesday. By Friday, the low was expected to be 5 to 10 above zero, Oravec said.

Until then, take advice for dealing with frostbite- and hypothermia-inducing cold from Anthony Bickham in St. Paul, Minn., who jumped around while waiting for the bus Monday.